London-born, Sri Lankan-raised daughter of a Tamil Tiger, M.I.A. made a huge impact with her debut album Arular, named after her father’s political struggles. Now she’s back with a second album, Kala, named after her mother, which tell the story of what it’s like to both love and confront a violent man.

Quick history of MIA: her childhood was spent on the run with her family through South Asia for political asylum. She was finally able to return to London with her mother and siblings where they were housed as refugees. MIA went on to attend the foremost art college Central Saint Martin’s. She roomed with punk-inspired fashion designer Luella Bartley, before coming to the US to make cover art and videos for Elastica. While on tour with them, opening act Peaches introduced her to the MC-505 sequencing machine and the rest is history. She returned to London where she wrote several songs and became an immediate hit through file-sharing on the internet and London DJs.

I first saw her single “Galang” on the little-known tv show “New York Noise” and took large pride in discovering her before she became huge. I’m not as crazy about her second album, but I do appreciate a few notable hits, the Clash-sampling “Paper Planes”, “Jimmy” and “$20″ (a follow-up to Arular’s awesome “Ten Dollar”?).
M.I.A. - Paper Planes

M.I.A. - Jimmy